An apparatus includes a housing, a pin, a mechanism, and a sensor. The housing is configured to receive a weld head. The pin is configured to move linearly relative to said housing. The mechanism is configured to convert a position of said pin into a displacement. The sensor is configured to generate a value representative of said position of said pin based on said displacement.

To improve quality control of welding, there is included in resistance welding: a magnetic field measuring unit (205) disposed around a welded part and configured to measure a local current at the welded part; a high-speed camera (202) configured to capture an image for measuring local temperature at the welded part from variation of luminance of emission by capturing light emission state of the welded part; a comparison determination unit (106) configured to determine whether or not at least one of current information and temperature information has an abnormal value by comparing the current information calculated based on magnetic field information acquired from the magnetic field measuring unit with past current information and comparing the temperature information measured from an image of the high-speed camera (202) with past temperature information.

A system and method to correct for height error during a robotic additive manufacturing process. One or both of an output current, output voltage, output power, output circuit impedance and a wire feed speed are sampled during an additive manufacturing process when creating a current layer. A plurality of instantaneous contact tip-to-work distances (CTWD's) are determined based on at least one or both of the output current, output voltage, output power, output circuit impedance and the wire feed speed. An average CTWD is determined based on the plurality of instantaneous CTWD's. A correction factor is generated, based on at least the average CTWD, which is used to compensate for any error in height of the current layer.

A control apparatus for a welding tool includes a determination module for determining a normalized displacement signal, in which a deflection of a tong-shaped tool, due to an effect of a mechanical force generated on the tool during a work process using the tong-shaped tool, is compensated for. The control apparatus further includes a force regulation module for regulating a progression of the force which the tong-shaped tool applies to at least one component during the work process on at least one component. The force regulation module is configured to regulate the progression of the force during the work process based on the normalized displacement signal.

A spot welding quality check system, which can be easily used and can be adapted to various situations. The check system has: a pair of electrodes configured to move toward or away from each other and apply current to a workpiece while pressurizing the workpiece; a displacement detecting part which detects an amount of displacement between the electrodes during spot welding; a checking part which estimates as to whether welding quality is good or poor by using an inner function, based on the detected amount of displacement; a correction receiving part which receives a correction by an operator regarding the estimated welding quality; and a learning part which updates the inner function based on an estimation result when the correction receiving part does not receive the correction, and updates the inner function based on a content of the correction when the correction receiving part receives the correction.

A welding station includes a welding gun that includes first and second caps. The welding gun is movable between a working position and a maintenance position. The working position corresponds to a welding operation on at least one workpiece. A maintenance tool assembly is configured to cooperate with the first and second caps in the maintenance position. The maintenance tool assembly includes a cap extractor, a cap dispenser and a cap dresser. The cap extractor is configured to remove the first and second caps from the welding gun. The cap dispenser is configured to provide a new cap to the welding gun for installation. The cap dresser is configured to shape the cap face. The maintenance tool assembly includes a lift actuator. A translate actuator is respectively configured to move the maintenance tool assembly in the lift and translate directions with respect to the welding gun.

A laminate formed by stacking a plurality of workpieces is sandwiched between a pair of roller electrodes. Then, seam welding is performed on the laminate by successively repeating an ON/OFF operation of a conduction state between the pair of roller electrodes while moving the laminate relative to the pair of roller electrodes. When the seam welding stops in a state where the pair of roller electrodes are unpowered and then the seam welding is to be resumed, the laminate is moved by a predetermined distance in a direction opposite to the relative moving direction during seam welding, spot welding is performed on the laminate, and then the seam welding is resumed.

A device includes: a measurement operation execution unit that controls a mobile machine to execute a measurement operation for moving a welding tip in a first direction to a measurement location; a location data acquisition unit that acquires the location of the mobile machine when the measurement operation has been executed; and a measurement initiation location determination unit that determines, as a measurement initiation location, a location for the mobile machine at which the welding tip is arranged at a prescribed distance apart from a first location in a second direction, which is opposite of the first direction, based on the first location which is acquired during a first measurement operation. During a second measurement operation, the measurement operation execution unit controls the mobile machine to position the mobile machine at the measurement initiation location and then move the welding tip in the first direction.

A spot welding system comprises a robot which changes a relative position of a spot welding gun and a workpiece. A control device drives an electrode drive motor so that a movable electrode of the spot welding gun abuts on the workpiece, and is formed so as to perform a position detection control which detects a position of the workpiece based on a position of the movable electrode when a state value of the electrode drive motor deviates from a predetermined range. An operation program includes a workpiece detection parameter for performing the position detection control. The workpiece detection parameter is set at each of welding points in the operation program.

An upper electrode assembly for welding fasteners includes a body that supports an electrode that has an aperture. The aperture is configured to receive a movable pin of a lower electrode assembly arranged opposite the upper electrode assembly. The lower electrode assembly supports a fastener in a welding position. The upper electrode assembly includes a position sensor which includes a position sensor member that is arranged in the body and is configured to cooperate with the pin to detect a fastener welding characteristic.